I think I’m ready… I think I’m ready!
My wife is 21 weeks pregnant and we just finished watching Baby Care 101, a video from KidsInTheHouse.com. I highly recommend it for expecting parents. It shows us how to clean the baby, feed the baby, put the baby to sleep, clothe the baby, swaddle the baby, which car seat to use, how to bounce the baby, how to calm the baby down. Should I go on? We’ll be watching this video many, many times in the coming weeks and months.
While I’m watching the video, I’m thinking, okay, this is really happening. We’re going to have one of those little babies in our possession in about 19 weeks! Am I ready? I hope so, but I guess it doesn’t matter too much because ready or not, we’re having a baby!
Thankfully, I have a little experience changing diapers, feeding a baby, rocking a baby to sleep, and baby sitting. My youngest brother is 12 years my junior and when I was 13, I had to help out and take care of him. Yes, he peed on me, kicked and screamed and when he was a toddler, he choked on a nickel. Thankfully, I was well versed in the heimlich maneuver. I held the little guy over the toilet, used the knuckle of my thumb, gave a it a big pull, and blaammo! out shot the nickel down the toilet. Phew! He was breathing again!
Am I going to have to save my own kid’s life? I have to assume many times. I keep coming back to trust. Trusting the universe that all things will go as planned. Not to get too esoteric, but I do believe we’re like one large connected species and we’re all here to continue the evolution and growth of our homo sapian species. With that in mind, I can tell the wild thoughts, that sometimes take over my thought patterns, to settle down, things are going to be okay. For millennia, other humans had parented children and even in this century, many expecting fathers have gone through the same process. The mind is a very tricky thing.
My wife, on the other hand, has handled every step of the way more gracefully than I think I would have. Especially because she used to say things like, “I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m pregnant.” And, “How is it going to be with this thing in my belly?” Her transformation from being a beautiful, fearful woman in anticipation, to an even more exquisite and elegant woman, handling all the changes with incredible grace, has been a pleasure to witness and an inspiration to say the least.
The times I go off the deep end, she’s there to keep me in check and once in a while I can do the same for her. Regardless of my thinking, I’m super excited to be an expecting dad. It’s another level in this amazing thing called life. So, if you’re expecting and your mind is having it’s way with you, take a few deep breaths, trust the process and love your wife. See you in the carpool.
Photo Credit: flickr.com/JamieBeverly